1. Field of The Invention
This invention is directed to the capturing of a fish or a school of fish primarily to be found in deep waters such as those patrolled by boats in the commercial fishing industries of the countries of the world.
2. Description of The Prior Art
In prior-art conventional fishing apparata and methods used by commercial fishing boat personnel, to capture a school of fish in deep waters of the ocean, a purse net or seine has been utilized. The ordinary form of this purse seine is generally composed of an upper section of netting having a rope or line extending along its top side or edge and provided with spaced corks, this rope being commonly known as the "cork line", and a lower section of netting or seine which is adapted to be pursed by a pursing line along its bottom side or edge. This lower portion of the seine is also formed of a continuous section or piece of netting, and is known as the pursing apron. In operating this ordinary form of net, the lower portion or pursing apron of the seine sinks down in a vertical manner into the depth of the water, as its motherboat lowers the seine into the water while circling about a school of fish. The seine is continously dropped through the water by its motherboat, around the located school of fish in anticipation of capturing them, until the boat again establishes proximate contact with a skiff that has stayed put at the end of the seine where the motherboat began to first lower it inot the water. Upon such contact, a net functioning as a "sack" already mounted at such end of the netting is utilized to gather together the captured school of fish, from which sack the fish are removed and transferred into a hold of the motherboat. This activity involves much expenditure of considerable labor and time-consuming manuevers about and with the school of fish which in some cases escapes prior to sacking at the expense of such time, labor and attendant costs related thereto.
In addition to the above described conventional and well-known pursing seine arrangement, other art devices, in one way or another catching fish, are disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. Nos.: 1,152,038; 1,152,081; 1,762,881; 2,570,285; 2,891,342; 3,604,139; 4,142,754; and Re. 30,877 (4,194,709).